Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hawarden council adopts FY2027 budget, approves landfill fee pass-through and schedules hearings
Summary
At its April 22 meeting, the Hawarden City Council adopted the fiscal year 2027 budget, approved a 13-cent monthly landfill gate-fee pass-through tied to Orange City Sanitation's rate increase, and set public hearings on an irrigation-rate ordinance and a flood-buyout grant application. Multiple motions passed unanimously.
Hawarden, April 22, 2026 — The Hawarden City Council approved a string of routine but consequential items Wednesday, adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget and approving a landfill gate-fee pass-through that will raise the monthly sanitation charge by 13 cents.
The council adopted Resolution 2026-13, the city's FY 2027 budget, after opening and immediately closing a public hearing because no speakers signed up. The budget passed on a 5-0 roll-call vote.
The council also approved Resolution 2026-12 to pass through an increase from Orange City Sanitation. Staff said Orange City is raising its gate fee effective July 1, 2026; under the city's contract that change allows the city to add 13 cents to customer bills, bringing the monthly landfill/gate fee from $1.30 to $1.43. Staff described the action as a contractual pass-through rather than a new local levy; the resolution passed 5-0.
Council advanced Ordinance 763 in its first reading to create a separate irrigation-meter monthly rate and set a public hearing for the ordinance at the next council meeting. The ordinance would add a line for irrigation meters (staff described a $6.29 monthly charge for irrigation meters that spreads the cost across 12 months) and aims to reduce seasonal on/off errors in billing. The first reading carried 5-0; a separate motion to set the public hearing also passed 5-0.
Council also voted to set a public hearing on a flood-buyout grant application (grant application 657308). Staff summarized the grant packet's required elements, including project descriptions, estimated costs, requested disaster-recovery funds, proposed project locations (properties that could become open green space), and a statement that the proposal principally benefits low- and moderate-income residents. The council set the public hearing by unanimous vote.
Other routine motions approved at the meeting included approval of April 8 meeting minutes (5-0), approval of the April 22 claims for payment (reported as four ayes with one abstention), and adjournment (5-0). The council scheduled its next meeting for May 13, 2026.
What happens next: Ordinance 763 will be the subject of a public hearing at the next council meeting; staff will return detailed grant materials for the flood-buyout hearing and bring vendor quotes and data on utility-billing software to a future packet.
